


Pleonexia

by rayemars



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Sexual Bargains, Size Kink, Xeno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-10 14:36:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4395641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayemars/pseuds/rayemars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even the most daring sorcerer knows you'd be a fool to try and ensorcel a dragon to your will: it didn't end well when they were first engineered, and it wouldn't end any better now.</p><p>Of course, that didn't stop Loki.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pleonexia

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by RadiatorfromSpace's [tumblr prompt](http://radiatorfromspace.tumblr.com/post/122949765117/fic-idea-sorcerer-loki-wants-to-ensorcell-a), though I went considerably more scifi (bless you, [tumblr](http://rayemars.tumblr.com/post/120849449398/snaappy-sexykaworunagisa-everyones-always), for that idea) than [her awesome story](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4321158).

Thor's leg buckled hard when he hit the ground, sending him pitching sidelong. He knocked down a length of the fence with a metallic squeal and stumbled over it until he was out of the lights' range. Loki clung tight on his back, fingers digging into his scales, one hand still gripping the staff desperately.

Thor finally managed to right himself without further damage. Loki cursed under his breath and slid off before he'd finished settling on the dirt.

The sorcerer abandoned him and went back into the parking lot, picking his way gingerly over the smashed fence, wobbling as he got his land-legs back. Still gripping the staff too tight.

Thor forced himself to transform. He grit his shifting jaw as his bones and sinews ground together, contracting and rearranging and blunting into something passably human. It looked easier than it felt.

He lay on the ground afterward, panting as the cold grit dug into his naked, sensitive, too-fragile skin. Loki ripped the tarp off the bike and started fumbling for the key inside his boot.

"Leg," Thor rasped.

Loki finally glanced back. His face was feverish in the sodium lights, that same manic magic-driven distraction that had been seething through his blood since they'd fled and taken flight.

The sorcerer unlatched the key from the strap inside his boot, still staring without seeing. The staff was tucked into his elbow, pressed tight to his side.

" _Leg_ ," Thor ground out, vocal chords caught halfway between human and dragon.

Loki blinked at him once. Then a few more times.

Then he rubbed his face briefly and huffed out a breath, and nodded. He shoved the key in his pocket and returned.

When Loki crouched before Thor to cup his hands over his leg, he set the staff on the ground to do it. But he kept a calf pressed over it.

A few breaths later, Thor could feel the cool trickle of magic dripping into the wound, urging it to heal faster. It left his already strained flesh sore and throbbing; but it helped. He shook away the last scales clinging to his spine and breathed in deep.

Loki left him again and returned to the parking lot, pulling their bags from the bike's container. He riffled through the contents distractedly with his back to Thor, staff cradled in the crook of his elbow again.

He was passing out of the liminal state; he felt capable of moving on these backward knee joints again. He was remembering to rely more on his eyes than his snout. His injured leg was settling to an over-worked ache. He still felt compacted too tight within in this small human body, but it would pass with time. He needed a good, long stretch.

Thor rolled heavily to his hands and knees and pushed to his feet with a long groan. Loki glanced at him again and then at last looked upward, checking that the street lamp and camera they'd broken before heading out hadn't been replaced yet. Thor leaned heavily against the semi-collapsed fence pole.

When the sorcerer shook his head, Thor picked his way carefully over the chain links, gritting his teeth as the metal bit into his still-tender bare soles. He forgot and grit too hard--his teeth were still too sharp but the inside of his mouth was softer now. It drew blood.

Loki **finally** loosened his death grip on the staff long enough to hand him his bag. Thor glowered at the gem set into the metal as he took it.

If the sorcerer noticed, he didn't care enough to speak.

~

It started snowing between the time they left the car park and when they reached the city limits proper. Thor rumbled to himself to keep his lungs warm; someone had gotten through the first layer of protective spells on the bike and stolen his sweater. He pressed tighter to Loki, tightening his arms around him as the sorcerer pushed the throttle harder despite the sharp wind. Loki had tied the staff across his back; it dug into Thor's chest.

Thor had decided he didn't like it.

He'd had a leery feeling about the thing ever since Loki ruined the plan to quietly thieve some tools and had instead had Thor nearly burn down the street to give Loki the time and distraction to prise the staff out of its cage. But the more Thor glanced at it as they drove--the oversized gem winked in the streetlights, despite its lack of facets--the more his leeriness congealed into distrust.

Loki rapped his ID too sharply against the toll screen, making it freeze up and forcing him to repeat the whole process, cursing roughly under his breath. Thor slumped heavier against his back and tried not to think about how ravenous he was. The sorcerer's throat was right there, his blood thudding hard with his aggravation and how keyed up the staff had him. He was starving.

Thor twisted his head away as they took off again, resting his temple against Loki's shoulder and staring blankly out at the lights as they drove into the city. He kept his jaw clenched tight.

~

When they finally parked in the apartments' underground lot, Thor made himself let go and let Loki slide off the bike. He caught the sorcerer when Loki started toward the elevator. "Food."

Loki wrenched his arm and glowered over his shoulder, ready to argue. But then he took a longer look at Thor, and stopped, and made an exasperated hiss. He nodded once curtly.

The sorcerer didn't want to waste time on hunger when he had a new tool to reverse-engineer, so they walked to the closest place down the street. The waitstaff there were used to them; Loki palmed one of Thor's hack silver bits into the waitress's hand, and she gave them the darkest booth away from the bar.

Forced to sit still, Loki finally deigned to acknowledge that his stomach had been growling the whole ride back as well. They demolished two plates of appetizers before the waitress had barely left the table.

Loki had a pot each of tea and coffee. Thor stopped after three pints from the tap. The beer was starting to fizzle in his blood, and he knew he was staring too hard at Loki's fingers and throat as the sorcerer devoured another plate of spring rolls and licked up a dribble of sauce before it reached the heel of his palm.

"You'll get sick," Loki said when Thor ordered a third bowl of pho the next time the waitress paused at their table.

He wouldn't; but it was still a warning. Over the years, Thor had learned to transform to the smallest human form he could endure without his heart feeling like it was going to burst from the constraint; there were even a few athletes larger than him now. He still attracted attention, but people assumed he was human. At most they took him for an enhanced, especially if they recognized Loki as a sorcerer.

But that was when he actively worked **not** to attract attention.

Plus, they hadn't been to the currency exchange in a while. The employee with high enough clearance that he didn't ask questions about precious metals had been out on paternity leave the last two months. Their cash was getting low; the credit card was close to the monthly limit.

"Better than the alternative," Thor grumbled. But when the waitress brought the pho, he asked for the check.

Loki twisted his head as if he were watching the TVs over the bar, and studied Thor in his peripheral vision.

The sorcerer always gave him that wary, deliberating look when Thor did something to trigger his instincts, those survival and common sense ones that Loki felt but rarely listened to. It reminded Thor of the first time they'd met, when the sorcerer had been conversing cautiously over his kitchen counter with a smile that didn't reach his eyes and all the while Thor could feel the little tendrils of his spells slinking up his skin, trying to dig in and ensorcel him.

He hadn't faulted the sorcerer for not knowing better. The data was classified, and anyway it had been destroyed the generation before Thor. The strain he was from had been planned specifically to be weapons: they had defensive abilities on top of the offensive ones. No general wanted a dragon who could breathe fire hot enough to vaporize bones within a 300-kilometer radius to suddenly join the enemy just because they had a more skilled sorcerer on hand. Resistance to entrapment magic was coded in his genes.

The lightning thing, as far as Thor could tell, was a personal quirk.

His leg throbbed again as the news on the far screen cycled back to the dragon attack on a town to the east, making him scowl. Why had such a small place had an anti-wyvern gun anyway? Even if the sorcerer Loki had stolen the staff from had lobbied for stronger defenses, even if they'd been or known a member of the town council, it seemed like _some_ body should have questioned that being put on the budget. The town wasn't that close to a military base or the mountains.

"What?" Loki said. He was finished already, full enough to drive away the headachy drain of excessive magic use, foot tapping impatiently under the table. He'd started agitatedly playing with the cane he'd glamoured the staff into resembling.

Thor shook his head and focused on the rest of his pho.

~

When they returned to the apartment complex, Thor raided the external freezer for some of the horse he'd carried off from a ranch a state over two weeks ago. One blue-rare rear leg later, he was finally sated enough to ignore the way Loki licked his lips as he drifted his fingers over the staff lying on his worktable.

Thor stretched out on the sofa, propping his bad leg on the armrest, and fell asleep.

~

When he woke it was nearly dawn. Loki was still hunched over the staff, the circles under his eyes darker.

The reek of magic in the apartment made Thor sneeze and rub his nose constantly as he made breakfast. Loki ignored the plate of sausages and egg substitute Thor set by his elbow.

He walked down to the convenience store to have more time away from the cloying smell. The attack on the eastern town was in the paper's front page, under the fold--a bigger story than Thor'd expected. He'd only burned out the one house. The rest should've been minor structural damage at most.

He'd have to stay off the streets for a couple weeks, just in case. Out of the sky for at least a month. He probably shouldn't even risk moving into his real form in the apartment. He'd be lucky if he wasn't clawing at the walls halfway through.

Thor liked being in his human form less and less as the years passed.

One day he figured he wouldn't be able to stand it at all. Not even if it meant he'd have to return to the mountains, exiled from the cities and all the interesting things in them. Worse, his business partners would probably balk at meeting in person anymore if he didn't look like a person. Plus, he wouldn't be able to speak or type like a human. A courier service to transport the gems wouldn't be feasible, and Loki was mortal and also stubborn.

He could still handle being in this form for now. He could worry about the future when it started getting harder.

It might not happen for a long while yet. Loki's presence helped. He gave Thor a compelling reason to stay in his human form even inside his apartment, keeping him more used to it. The only downside was now that he transformed to and from his real shape less often, it took him longer to adjust when he did.

He could worry about the future when it grew harder.

Thor bought the paper and another tin of coffee--Loki would probably burn through the current one by tomorrow--and checked that the store still hadn't gotten any real eggs yet before heading home.

He returned to find Loki had finally passed out.

Thor left the sack by the door and toed off his shoes to pad over and check on him. The sorcerer had pushed himself harder than usual; Thor thought again of the feverish tint to his eyes when he'd refused to let the staff out of his reach. He gave the gem another distrustful look.

Loki didn't wake as Thor lifted him out of the chair and took him to his atelier. He'd pushed himself much farther than normal, no matter how tantalizing the staff was. At least he'd eaten the breakfast at some point.

Thor didn't know how Loki bore having the soul of a dragon in an immutable human body. Sometimes when the sorcerer inhaled sharply while he was working Thor half-expected to turn around and find Loki simply _gone_ , that all that power and greed had finally burst his skin. 

He left Loki on the bed after removing his shoes. Thor returned to the main room and scowled at the staff for several moments before taking it to his own workspace.

~

Loki woke not long after. Thor heard him trudge out of the atelier, make it to the table, and then stomp toward his workroom. He rubbed his eyes again and turned off the UV lamp before Loki wrenched the door open.

"That's mine," the sorcerer threatened, snapping on the light.

Thor turned his head and gave him a long look.

When the sorcerer had agreed to the contract and moved in, Thor had relocated his gemology equipment and given Loki the space as his atelier. Loki had made it his main bedroom as well; but after a few months, as he collected more tools and objects from their raids, his things had begun to spill out until they'd taken over Thor's apartment. The only places now still absolutely Thor's own were his new workroom that he'd refused to share, and his bedroom.

Loki twisted the water glass in his hand agitatedly but held his stare, glaring back like an equal predator. The staff was deep under his skin.

"I'm not taking it," Thor replied.

"Then return it," Loki said curtly.

Thor rapped the gem. "This isn't a natural stone."

"Obviously," Loki dismissed.

Thor gave him another look. "It isn't a synthetic one, either," he added, more annoyed. "And it doesn't register as enchanted." He tapped a knuckle against the refractometer. "When I tried to get the R.I. it just gave me an error. I tried to check the florescence and it nearly blinded me."

Loki gave a half shrug. "And?"

"This isn't a gemstone," Thor said lowly. "It's not normal magic. What have you brought into my home, Loki?"

The sorcerer huffed out a breath and moved into Thor's room. "I've not finished examining it yet," he retorted, holding out a hand. "Ask again later."

Thor studied him silently.

The limited nap hadn't helped the circles under his eyes or the exhausted slump of his shoulders. There was a twist of a grimace to his mouth, as if his headache was back; Thor could hear his stomach growling again. But all Loki did was splay his fingers wider and scowl.

The sorcerer got like this sometimes, whenever he'd bought or bartered or stolen a particularly powerful item. The magic in them acted as some kind of positive feedback to his own, spurring Loki to drain himself far past his limits until he was nearly consumed and his body shut down and recalibrated.

He wouldn't hear any sense or logic Thor spoke right now. In a few days, maybe. Less if Thor quit ensuring he ate in the interim.

He unclamped the staff from the table and handed it over. Loki half-backed out of the room, still looking distrustful even with the staff once more in his hands.

~

Loki managed almost two days straight of examining and testing and--as far as it looked to Thor--generally fucking around with the staff until he collapsed. Thor caught him before he cracked his head on the table edge as he fell, and hauled him to his atelier once more.

He forced half a glass of water down Loki's throat because he couldn't immediately remember the last time he'd seen the sorcerer drink. Thor cleared off the chair by Loki's bed and placed the refilled glass on the seat along with a bag of nuts and a bottle of painkillers, and left Loki to sleep his way to recovery.

As he turned off the lights and shut the door, Thor wondered if all sorcerers had these fits.

He went to open the windows to air out the odor of magic, and wondered if it had nothing to do with being a sorcerer at all. Maybe it was just Loki's own temperament that rejected any limits on his desires, even those of his own physical existence.

He really should have been born a dragon.

~

Thor was up on the rooftop patio a little over a day later when Loki finally emerged from his self-induced coma, staggering through the apartment half-hungover from the drain to his magic. Thor heard him rummaging in the rooms below, then heard him leave and cross to the main apartment complex. Loki returned even more slowly than he left, shuffling through the rooms before trudging up the steps to the patio. Thor turned his head when Loki pushed the door open, but didn't get up from where he lay.

Loki leaned heavily against the jamb to look at him. His eyes were clearer as he pointed out, voice rasping, "The neighbors will get suspicious."

Thor grunted. He'd made himself keep on underwear since the privacy fence only ran along the side facing the other apartments and the fourth floor windows could see down on part of the area despite the patio roof. But he couldn't stand more clothes than that anymore, no matter how cold it got.

It wasn't even being in his human form that was the problem. It'd been less than a week; he'd gone for nearly a month once without transforming back.

It was the knowledge that he _couldn't_ change, not if he was being careful. Knowing he **had** to stay strictly human for the next few weeks was already starting to prick at him incessantly, a crawling tension grating his nerves every time something brushed against flesh that should have been scales.

Loki studied him as he took a slow sip of water from his glass. "The freezer's locked."

Thor exhaled heavily but forced himself to sit up and roll to his feet. Loki shifted out of the doorway.

The stairwell was unbearably narrow after the already cramped confines of the covered patio. Thor wrapped an arm around Loki's waist reflexively and started to drag him down alongside him, then made himself stop and let go when Loki stiffened. The sorcerer was still tired. He needed food and water and more rest, and time to prepare. They had a contract. Not now. Soon. But not now.

Thor thudded down the stairs and forced himself into slacks and a sweater before striding out of the apartment, struggling to keep his frustrated rumble at a human pitch. He rubbed his face hard before entering the main complex. He managed to stop clenching his jaw when he was halfway to the storage room.

He was a little surprised that Loki hadn't tampered open or just broken the freezer's electronic lock, but the sorcerer probably hadn't wanted to waste the energy. Thor retrieved a roast, then shifted several other beef cuts over the sealed horsemeat when a neighbor came in to get into his own freezer. He'd learned how to navigate the cities over the years, even if some of the cultural rules remained bafflingly arbitrary.

Volstagg wasn't likely to be bothered by the horsemeat, but he _would_ ask where Thor had bought it, which would generate its own problems. While Thor was resetting his lock, the man warned him he should consider a stronger one.

"There were supposed to be dragonlets rooting in the garbage a few blocks down," Volstagg explained. "If they don't catch that nest, soon they'll be up here."

Thor shook his head with a grin. "They always say that. There'd be more dragons than people if it was true even half the time."

Volstagg hrumphed. "Better safe than sorry. It's as bad as ants."

Thor commiserated, and turned down Volstagg's invitation to a new steakhouse tomorrow with genuine regret. The man did freelance writing for the paper's food section, and meals with him were always enjoyable, especially now that Thor had started prodding Loki into joining them. It would be a good way to prise the sorcerer from that staff for a few hours and nudge him toward that witty, sly-tongued side that good food and drink and company brought out in him.

But Thor already felt half-buried standing in an enclosed concrete room under the dirt with a friend. The thought of sitting trapped for hours in this fragile skin in a room crammed full of masking noise and strangers holding knives made his lungs heat instinctively.

He had to cough hard to hold down the fire. Volstagg frowned and asked if he was well.

"It's getting better," Thor waved off. "Just a winter cold."

"Ahh," Volstagg said with a nod. "It's bad this year--all the kids've had one so far. Brunhilde's sure she's next." 

They left soon after, when their packages were starting to defrost in their hands. Thor promised Volstagg that he would drink plenty of tea with lemon, and to let the man know if he wasn't better soon so Volstagg could bring him fresh soup.

~

Loki managed to tear away from the staff when Thor returned, though his fingers lingered in a caress over the stone as he draped a cloth on it. Thor grit his teeth and went into the kitchen.

He swapped the roast for two packages of sirloin and one of filet already in the fridge. Loki retrieved the salt and pepper grinders while Thor opened the paper and lit the griddle, and Thor caught himself staring at Loki's fingers curled around the curved tops. Loki arched an eyebrow deliberately as he held them out.

Thor took them with a growl and turned aside, resolutely starting to season the meat while fantasizing about gripping the sorcerer by the jaw and wrenching him down to his knees here, amid the smell of fire and raw meat and the lingering traces of magic. _Soon_. But not now.

Loki gave him another considering look and went to set the table.

~

Lunch was a slow and pleasant affair. Thor finally felt himself relaxing a little as it stretched out, grilling a new pair of steaks once they finished the first and chuckling while Loki grumbled about Thor's ungodly motley collection of tableware.

"Have you never liked anything in _pairs?_ " he groused, frowning intensely at the two goblets he was holding. Apparently neither was the right shape for the next wine Loki had opened. Thor took his word for it; he'd collected the wines because he'd liked the designs of their bottles. It was Loki who'd become determined to drink through them once he discovered the stash, before they turned to vinegar.

Thor shrugged. "Things break." Gold bent; gems shattered. Humans died.

Loki grumbled in the back of his throat and finally picked a goblet. Thor simply swapped out his used glass for a new one and ignored the way Loki shook his head as he filled it.

The sorcerer had no patience for cooking in general, but sometimes in good moods he would treat it as alchemical practice. Today he did the same, rummaging through the fridge and crafting small side dishes while Thor grilled, the warmth of his presence and the quiet thunk of the knife on the chopping board constantly tugging at Thor's attention. Loki was deliberately standing behind Thor at the granite island, just enough to his left to give them both room to work.

Thor considered burning his steak in retribution, but couldn't bring himself to do that to such a good cut of filet. The sirloin, maybe. If the sorcerer kept this up.

~

By the time they finished, the sky was shifting to mid-afternoon, those brief hours where long stretches of winter light spilled through the windows. Thor had pulled up all the blinds to keep the sky as visible as possible.

Loki drained the last of his wine and leaned back in his chair with a slow, pleased sigh. Thor felt the same way, stretching his arms above his head, temporarily sated and content. The meal had been good; the wine buzzed in his veins without sitting leaden in his stomach; Loki was more talkative now and still smiling faintly.

Thor didn't doubt that this had been Loki's plan: to appease one of his hungers so the sorcerer had longer with that staff before he had to slake another. There were many ways to control someone to another's will; when directly ensorcelling Thor had failed, Loki had just found subtler means.

He didn't doubt that the whole afternoon so far had been Loki's plan to buy himself more time. So when Loki started to carry his plate to the sink but brushed a hand along Thor's shoulder as he passed, Thor hissed and caught him by the wrist.

"Stop toying with me," he grit out, glowering up at him.

Loki stared back, eyebrow slightly raised. "I'm not," he replied. He gave a testing tug to his wrist. "But you'll have to wait until tonight."

Thor lowered his brows further. He knew the contract; he wasn't going to be accused of breaking it. "You're still worn out."

"Not that much," Loki replied with a light shrug. "And by my own doing." He stretched his fingers to brush the curve of Thor's ear as a slow smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. "You'll just have to be gentle with me, won't you?"

He didn't mean to tighten his grip so much; but being in a human form didn't make him human. He knew he was squeezing too hard when Loki inhaled shortly and narrowed his eyes.

Thor released him. Loki let his arm drop slowly to his side, deliberately not rubbing his wrist.

"Tonight," Thor agreed roughly.

Loki nodded once and moved past him to the sink.

~

The sorcerer retreated into his atelier with the staff for the rest of the afternoon and early evening. Thor made himself properly return to his work, returning calls to several jewelers to follow up a few potential leads about the false gem in the staff and answering emails about the other rumors, all those things he'd been letting slide the past day in favor of lying out on the patio.

The leads about the gem all petered out. Thor only had a few photos and the measurements and results he'd been able to collect before Loki took the staff back, and half of those had been negative data, just confirming what the stone wasn't.

He closed out of his video call to Lisbon with an exhale and immediately stripped off his sweater. Thor lifted his head when he caught the faint sound of water.

He left his workroom to find Loki had shut his door. The shower was running.

~

Thor put together a selection of cold meats and stored the board in the fridge for later. Loki's door was still shut when he finished, but the water had stopped.

Out of useful distractions, Thor began pacing.

The blinds were still up, so he turned off the lights. Past the levee, downtown was washing out the stars with neon. He wanted to be in the sky. He wanted Loki here, now. He had to keep reminding himself not to discard this itching, confining, frustrating underwear with the windows open. Loki had already dryly claimed the neighbors were going to think Thor was the kept one soon.

When he heard the first muffled grunt from behind Loki's door, Thor forced himself to stride out of the main room, past the sorcerer's atelier, and on to his own bedroom.

He ripped out of the underwear as soon as he crossed the threshold, but couldn't pause from pacing. He felt coiled too tight, too agitated to hold still for even a breath. His ears weren't as sharp as they were in his real form, but they were decent enough to hear Loki's soft panting and hitched breaths in the other room, the stifled hisses he made as he prepared himself.

He wouldn't do it in front of Thor, no matter how Thor cajoled or prodded. It wasn't in the contract; it was just Loki's own stubbornness. He wouldn't come to Thor's room until he was ready, no matter what Thor offered in trade. He wouldn't even let Thor watch. He always shut the door.

That _was_ in the contract. Loki had refused to reside in his home until he'd negotiated his requirements: at least a day of rest each time after paying Thor's price; that payment could only be demanded while Loki was residing in his home, not when Thor was traveling with him on the sorcerer's own purposes; and a habitable room within the apartment that was solely his, one Thor couldn't enter without his permission--though the contract seemed to relax the binding if he was bringing the sorcerer into it to sleep because he'd worked himself to exhaustion. He never touched Loki more than necessary during those times, just in case.

Sometimes he wondered if Loki had been imprisoned before. Thor had known some things to beware of before leaving the mountains from older dragons' tales, and he'd learned more by trial and error, even if he'd had to change cities a few times in the process. But Loki was even more hyper-sensitive to entrapment, to any potential curtail on his freedom. He didn't enter a room without already determining an escape from it.

But the sorcerer never spoke of his past.

Thor didn't intend to push. Yet. Loki had only recently begun working in the main room too instead of always holing away in his atelier. The sorcerer required coaxing and shrewdness, no matter how much keeping patience made Thor's skin itch.

Now even more than usual. Thor skirted a spill of necklaces in the corner as he made another circuit of the room, and half-heartedly considered returning to the patio. The cold air burned his lungs the wrong way and it was never fresh enough, but it was better than the recycled kind that circulated in the apartments, coating his tongue no matter how long he left the windows open. Even when Loki pushed himself hard, it still took nearly three-quarters of an hour before he was ready to come to Thor.

But the idea of putting on even the bare requirements of clothing repulsed him. He wanted his **scales**. He wanted his proper knees and his decently-sized jaw and his wings, he wanted the option to **_fly_** again.

If he couldn't have those, if he had to stay incarcerated in this easily-punctured skin, the only thing he wanted touching it was Loki.

Thor thumped down heavily onto the bed, making it creak, and sprawled across the gold coverlet in a vague and desperate chase for distraction. He could never decide if listening to Loki's muffled noises during the wait helped or just frayed his patience worse. He buried his face in the coverlet but kept an ear tilted toward the open door.

When Loki had seen that Thor slept on the tangled, skidding collection of his favorite pieces of gold, he'd laughed for a minute straight and then unconditionally refused to have sex until Thor purchased a bed. The coverlet had been an incentive, although it was all Thor's gold that'd been sacrificed to make it. Loki had claimed it was because he had none of his own, but Thor had seen him palming off a golden ring and hiding it in his boot not two minutes before.

For a little while, Thor distracted himself by running his fingers over the coverlet, rummaging through his memories and picking out the old, familiar pieces it was made of, still partly tangible even after being melted down to make the threads.

But they were fading, slipping away with time, the same as all things did. Now that they'd been changed, he'd forget them sooner or later. Outside, too far away, the sorcerer strangled down a tight, shaky moan.

Thor swallowed thickly and shut his eyes. He wrapped a hand around his cock as he curled toward the doorway, pressing his temple hard against the coverlet. His palm was already slick with the precome dribbling along it as he listened to Loki pant raggedly for a nerve-scrapingly long time; when the sorcerer drew a deep breath before grunting hoarsely again, Thor forced himself to keep his strokes slow despite the ache in his balls. He'd already waited this long.

By the time Loki **finally** quieted to harsh pants for several minutes, Thor wanted to snarl. When there **finally** came the faint creak of the sorcerer's door opening, he wanted to roar, to pounce, to seize and drag and coil and roll and bury, to take and _keep_.

He forced himself to stay in place instead. Thor lay in wait, his fingers digging tensely into the coverlet and his eyes focused on the doorway.

After Loki entered the doorway he shuddered faintly and stilled there, his eyes wider as he stared at Thor. He'd belted a robe loosely around himself just to cross down the hall.

It masked his sight but not his scent. This close, that came through clear to Thor even with his human form's weak nose. Loki smelled of lube and come and strain, of pleasure and anxiety, of tension, need, hunger, want.

Loki shivered again when Thor slid sharply off the bed, kicking the coverlet to the floor as he did. The sorcerer's hands curved at his sides.

Thor growled deep in his throat, but made himself climb back onto the mattress.

Loki remained in the doorway until Thor scooted further back into the center of it. Only then, after another deliberate pause, did Loki lick his lips and step into his room.

He snapped the light off as he passed. Thor didn't argue; his eyes adjusted fast, and Loki didn't know precisely how good his night vision was.

When Loki climbed onto his bed, he tried the same as always to straddle Thor's legs with his back to him. He hissed quietly when Thor caught him by the waist and turned him around, but he didn't fight.

Loki also tried, again the same as always, to grasp Thor's cock and just push down on it. He grit his jaw with a scowl when Thor tugged his wrist away and wrapped a hand around his thigh to keep him still.

Loki grunted as Thor kissed him hard, one-handedly working the robe open and off his shoulders. He dug his fingers into the meat of Thor's chest as he began to bite back, blocking Thor from pulling the robe the rest of the way off. The sorcerer hated feeling exposed as much as he hated feeling imprisoned; he'd probably remain fully clothed during sex if Thor let him.

Thor never did. He released Loki's thigh long enough to grip the lapels and wrench, driving Loki's arms down and peeling the robe off. The sorcerer sucked in a sharp breath and his nails scoured Thor's chest and waist as his arms were yanked to his sides. Thor heard the silk tear.

It didn't matter. The robe was his own, something he'd taken because he'd liked the pattern and then lost track of after a move. Loki had found it somewhere and taken it for his own. Loki was always uncovering things Thor had forgotten, bringing value back to them with his own desire. It was why trying to bribe him never worked--Thor wound up giving him nearly anything he demanded anyway, sooner or later.

For one breath the robe's sleeves were tangled around Loki's wrists, pinning his arms in Thor's grip, the deep black a beautiful contrast with his skin that never seemed to absorb enough sun. The sorcerer gave an abrupt, panicked snarl and tried to wrench backward.

The look in his eyes had turned dangerous and wild, his teeth bared as though he'd bite out Thor's throat if Thor kept him trapped one heartbeat longer. Thor shivered and grinned and kissed him harder, growling when Loki bit open his lip but combating the sorcerer's struggling long enough to work the robe the rest of the way off. Loki gasped in relief when Thor flung it to the side.

Thor seized the advantage to kiss him deeper, tangling his hands in Loki's hair to keep him from pulling away.

But that only kept the sorcerer's head still, not the rest of him. When Loki wrapped a fist around his cock again and shifted to take it, Thor couldn't find the willpower to stop him. He was sick with waiting; he _wanted_.

Loki inhaled against his mouth as he started to push down.

He tried to swallow the sound a heartbeat later. Thor pulled back to let him breathe, but didn't loosen his grip. He tilted Loki's head up to watch his face.

Loki clenched his jaw and shut his eyes, locking him out, as he eased Thor's cock deeper inside himself. He pulled on Thor's wrist, futilely. When that gained nothing he dug his fingers into Thor's shoulder, rocking his hips in jerky, stilted motions as he worked his way further down. He soon bit through his own lip trying to keep his whimpers from Thor.

Thor had lost track of how much time Loki'd spent preparing himself, but it hadn't been enough. He was still so **tight** , his thighs quivering with each centimeter deeper that he slid Thor's cock in, his breath ragged in Thor's ears and his fingers flexing and clenching on his shoulder as he resolutely pushed down further. It could take him almost two hours to stretch himself open enough for his body to yield to Thor with minimal discomfort--hours that would leave Thor stalking through the apartment, nerves flayed raw from keeping himself away and waiting. He'd waited, he always waited, waited until Loki crossed the threshold of his space and entered Thor's own; and yet Loki had only taken that long thrice before. The majority of the time he came to Thor when he knew it would still burn.

Thor had tried to make it easier at the start, to make his human form a little less proportionate once he realized how much of a struggle fulfilling his side of the contract was for Loki. But it drained Thor already to force away his talons and tail and scales and to shrink. Trying to manipulate the size of his cock caused more exhaustion that it was worth. He always gave Loki as much time as he needed; the sorcerer just didn't take it.

He didn't understand why Loki kept coming to him insufficiently prepared, unless maybe it was to see how long he could make Thor hold back and grind his teeth in agitated restraint. Directly ensorcelling him had failed; but Loki had found other leashes.

He knew when Loki could push himself down no further. The sorcerer clawed at his shoulders while he slowed until Thor was bleeding, cursing furiously under his breath at himself or Thor or them both, he was never sure. Loki trembled against him but remained still.

Thor kissed him deeply once more and slid his hands down.

Loki flinched and tightened his grip as Thor curled his hands around his hips. He loosened them a fraction--he'd cut his nails that morning, but by now they were long enough again to start sharpening to a point, the best this human form could come to his claws. He pressed his face to the side of Loki's neck, humming to warn him.

The sorcerer knew what was coming; but every time he fought rather than yield.

Loki tensed with a sharp cry as Thor pulled him onto the rest of his cock, rolling his own hips up as he tugged Loki's downward, a short steady thrust to take that final bit Loki couldn't make himself give. Thor gripped Loki's thighs and spread them wider around his hips without really thinking, driving up again to sink in as deep as the angle and Loki's body could allow. Loki keened thickly and shuddered.

He curled his arms around Thor's shoulders a few breaths later, digging his fingers into Thor's throat in clear threat. Someone else, any other creature, and Thor would have reacted viciously--but it was Loki, arrogant and overconfident as always, and he couldn't help his rumbling laugh. Loki shuddered again with a stifled whimper.

Thor rubbed his face against Loki's throat once more. He started biting gently to ease the sorcerer's tension, licking away the prickle of sweat that sheened his skin.

After several slow, shallow breaths, Loki finally regained enough of himself to grunt in annoyance. He pushed at Thor's temple. "I'm not food."

Thor's low growl at that--as if he could ever mistake Loki for _prey_ \--wasn't the reassurance it should have been. Loki trembled harder with another hitched breath.

Thor licked away one last drip of sweat and nuzzled behind Loki's ear, rubbing his hands soothingly along Loki's thighs. He was almost shaking with need, but he could wait a little longer. He'd waited this long.

After several breaths Loki exhaled gradually. His blunt nails were still pressed impotently against Thor's throat; neither of them belonged in these weak forms. But if Loki was trapped, then Thor would stay as well.

Eventually the tension began to ease out of the sorcerer, as his breathing grew steadier and his shaking lessened. Thor groaned when Loki started shifting his hips, the muscles in his thighs flexing against Thor's palms. He tangled a hand in Loki's hair again, rubbing a thumb along his scalp to soothe him.

Each shift Loki made flexed his body around Thor's cock, spurring Thor further until he was quaking with restraint, until he was choking with the urge to **move** , the need to take and _have_. When Loki hissed and pushed at Thor's hand on his thigh, he let go and fisted it into the coverlet instead.

Loki was still breathing hard, still only making small motions, waiting to readjust to Thor's cock. They'd been traveling for nearly a week before they'd returned several days ago; he needed more time. Thor had to keep waiting. Humans broke.

Thor brushed back the strands of hair stuck to Loki's face, looking to distract himself. "Where to next?"

Loki gave a soft bark of laughter. Thor hummed encouragingly as he felt him relax further.

"Mn." Loki shifted again, almost starting to push up this time before pausing with an inhale. He hadn't swatted at Thor's hand in his hair yet, so Thor kept stroking it, making sure he had a clear view of Loki's face. "Up."

That was vague even for the circumstances. Thor snorted. "North?"

"Mm," the sorcerer replied, though it didn't sound like an agreement. Before Thor could press for more details, Loki drew a deep breath and leaned back slightly.

Thor braced a hand against Loki's lower back. The sorcerer made another distracted noise at the supporting touch and loosened his arms from Thor's shoulders, pressing his palms to Thor's chest.

Thor gripped Loki's waist to help steady him and went, letting Loki push him down to his back on the bed. He moved slowly, but Loki still jolted a little as Thor's cock shifted inside him.

Once Thor was settled, Loki licked his lips again and drew another deep breath, eyes drifting shut as he tilted his head down, his hair falling forward and obscuring his expression. He scowled when Thor reached up to sweep it back, and pushed his hand aside.

Thor let him win and cupped his palms around Loki's thighs once more. Loki tensed his jaw and pressed his fingers a little harder into Thor's chest, but beyond that he didn't fight back. His eyes stayed closed as he began to drag himself up.

Loki kept his hands splayed hard on Thor's chest as he worked himself along Thor's cock, holding him down to the sheets, half in pretense and half in warning. Thor played along, running his hands over Loki's skin now that the sorcerer was too distracted to stop him, licking his lips at the feel of Loki's thighs trembling against his palms each time he sunk downward. Thor swallowed hard and ground his teeth when Loki kept to a shallow pace, never even trying to take his cock in all the way.

Loki jerked with a sharp exhale when Thor finally rocked his hips up to meet him, pushing in deeper again at _last_. The sorcerer spat out a shaky curse a few pants later, scraping his nails against Thor's chest, but Thor ignored it. He'd waited, he'd been waiting so long, and he felt ready to snap.

Loki whimpered when Thor gripped his waist once more, biting his lip to smother the noise and hissing when it split open wider. He broke the skin on Thor's chest as Thor hefted him upward.

He was careful as he guided Loki along his cock, nerve-wrackingly, gut-wrenchingly careful, careful not to grip too tight, not to drive upward too hard, not to move too fast, not to break this treasure that was more fragile than it looked or pretended to be. The pace still made Loki's head tip back with a rough groan, the long stretch of his throat convulsing as Thor rolled his hips up while he tugged Loki down, the sorcerer's thick swallows audible under the slick thud of their skin.

Loki was stubborn as always, fighting Thor's grip and pace for as long as he could, his hands pressed hard to Thor's chest to hold him down on the bed.

Thor let him. He waited. It was always a contest with the sorcerer: Loki grit his jaw, struggling to drive Thor into coming while he still had the strength to, clenching tight around Thor's cock even when the pressure and Thor's reflexive thrusts upward made him choke for it; and Thor ground his teeth and pretended he had reserves of patience left, and waited him out.

He could tell when Loki began to wear down. The sorcerer's squirming lessened, and the faster, shallower pace he kept trying to take began to falter. Loki started snarling more.

It was another warning, impotent and warming as all the rest. This time Thor ignored it.

Loki choked louder when Thor shoved himself upright to wrap an arm around his waist, shouting as he was shifted on Thor's cock. He shook his head sharply, trying to push Thor back onto the bed, but Thor ignored that too.

Loki sobbed out a breath when Thor rolled them over, pinning Loki on his back on the mattress and hooking an arm under his leg to tilt his hips up and pull him open wider. Loki scrabbled against his grip, clawed at his shoulders and chest, but Thor was the stronger of them.

He was careful, unbearably carefully, restraining himself so much to keep from breaking Loki without thinking, and Loki arched underneath him with desperate, rasping moans every time Thor made him take his cock as far in as he could get. He bit down on his tongue to stop from ordering Loki to grip his own cock and bring himself off, knowing it only would make him more stubborn, would make Loki refuse to touch himself no matter how desperately he wanted to. The sorcerer was the most complex puzzle he'd ever discovered; but slowly, slowly, Thor was learning how to nudge the pieces.

When Loki keened rougher, shaking beneath him but still keeping his hands fisted tight in the sheets as he shuddered and flexed, Thor gave in and grasped Loki's cock for him.

Loki shouted at that, twisting his face aside and burying it into the bed, choking for breath as Thor stroked him fiercely.

Loki clenched the sheets tight enough to rip them, shaking under Thor's touch with sharp, panicked noises that made Thor want to bite him again, to soothe and spur and mark, to prove to _every_ one--the sorcerer included--that Loki was **his**. He leaned back further to resist the urge; and Loki shouted rougher the next time Thor slid into him at the new angle.

He liked the sound, and wanted to hear more. But it wasn't long before Loki tensed violently beneath him, his orgasm wracking his body and spilling strings of come along Thor's fist. He clenched so tightly around Thor's cock that Thor could barely hold back from driving hard into the pressure.

Loki soon began sobbing beneath him for real, with hoarse pained noises that he couldn't hide even as he twisted his face further away. Thor snarled but let go of Loki's cock. He gripped his fists into the sheets instead, and finally eased his restraint a fraction now that Loki was more loosened to bear it. Loki shuddered harder against him.

Loki's moans as Thor rocked into him were broken, half-there, and when Thor lifted his head the sorcerer's eyes were wide and unfocused. It made him want to drive in harder, to wrench Loki back until the only thing the other dragon felt was **him** \--but he managed to refrain. Loki's false form was even weaker than Thor's own; he had to have restraint. Humans broke.

He'd asked around, started following a few possible leads, slowly weeding out the lies and urban legends and simple medical conditions from the real thing. There might be someone who could fix this mistake in Loki's genes, who could get him the strength and durability and longevity he should have been born with. Who could make Loki as close to a dragon as Thor could bring him. He hadn't met her yet, didn't want to suggest the idea to Loki until he had; but the rumors were promising.

Dragons were theoretically long-lived, but Thor didn't know any that had managed a natural death yet. The ones that couldn't change were always exterminated by humans in the end, and the ones that _could_ eventually disappeared. The rumors went that the group who'd created them tracked them down sooner or later; if Thor were more cautious, and less fond of his friends and associates and life, he'd keep moving. But dragons weren't the only creatures that could supposedly live for centuries.

The thought of having to eat only blood sounded miserable to Thor--there was so _much_ good food out there, to lose taste for it entirely seemed like punishment--but if that was what it took to get Loki's soul into a body it deserved, very well.

He refused to lose the sorcerer to the transient lifespan of humans. He wouldn't let all that power and complexity and intelligence and aggravation be wiped out after a few decades' passing. Thor might forget about the things he collected over time, but he didn't let them go lightly.

And Loki he refused to forget.

His life had changed once Loki came into it. The sorcerer's presence plucked at the smothered instincts in his genes, teasing them out and connecting Thor to his blood and flesh and self more fully than he had ever felt while living in the mountains. There, among his kind, he had known he was a dragon; here, with Loki beside him, he **felt** it.

Here with Loki, he could find comfort even in this false form. He didn't mind having skin in place of scales when it let him feel Loki's fingers scrabbling at his back. He didn't care about the squashed shape of this face when it let him bite more easily at Loki's hand yanking on his hair. He could even bear feeling condensed into too small a form when it let him press fully against Loki's own. Loki was the best treasure Thor had ever collected, emerald and onyx and silver all in worked into one, the most challenging puzzle he'd ever come across, the most powerful and heartless and entertaining companion Thor had ever known, and he would **never** relinquish him. Loki was _his_ , his to possess, to protect, to guard, and Thor would slay anyone foolish enough to try taking him away. Loki's place was in _Thor's_ lair, at _Thor's_ side, in _Thor's_ life, and anyone who tried to steal him wouldn't even make it through the lightning strike to touch him.

Loki was rasping for breath beneath him, one hand clawing at Thor's throat and the other pressed tight to his mouth in a fist to stifle his choked whimpers, his thighs flexing hard against Thor's hips as shudders spasmed through him. He was beautiful, more valuable than anything else Thor owned, and he was **_Thor's_**.

He'd been cautious and mindful and restrained all this time, fighting down his hunger despite the heat and slick grip of Loki's body around his cock, despite the quaking that ran through Loki each time Thor rolled his hips to slide deep inside him. Despite the way Loki's hands flailed and scrabbled at the air and Thor's arms and anything he could reach each time Thor's balls slapped heavily against him at the end of a thrust, or the groans that spilled from his throat as Thor tried to drive just that fraction deeper each time before dragging back out.

Thor had been cautious and mindful and restrained until he was raw with it. The pressure was building up so intensely along his spine that it would split him open soon if he had no relief, leave him clawing out of this flesh with a roar that would shatter the room around them; and just when he thought he could bear it no longer it finally broke. He barely remembered to bite down on Loki's chest and not his throat.

Loki keened thinly when Thor drove in one rough final time as he came. He writhed and kicked as Thor's seed began to spill into him.

Thor grunted when his knee caught him in the upper thigh, and dropped down on top of him. Loki always thrashed if Thor came in him--his seed was so hot and copious for Loki in this form, driving the sorcerer to fight back instinctively no matter how exhausted he was. Loki was drawing blood now as he clawed at Thor's throat.

Thor caught his forearms and pinned them to the bed as well, bearing his weight down to make Loki finally be _still_. The sorcerer snarled at him for it, a furious, distressed noise that made Thor shiver harder. He bit soothingly behind his ear, but Loki only flinched.

Being pinned and weighted down wasn't enough to calm him. Even when Loki at last stopped trying to buck free and slumped beneath him, breath ragged in his lungs, he still dug his heels into the mattress, twisting his hips with short panted whines at each new spurt of Thor's seed inside him. He cried out when Thor drove his hips forward in reflex, and buried his face into his pinned arm.

Slowly, steadily, Thor's orgasm swept through him. He exhaled heavily and shook his head, driving back a swell of lethargy now that he'd finally had relief after all these days of being pulled taut in the sorcerer's grip. He nuzzled and nipped and licked at the stretch of Loki's throat offered to him, and slid his hands up Loki's forearms to curl his fingers between Loki's own.

In time, Thor's heart and breath finally began to even out. Loki remained panting convulsively into the curve of his elbow, soft hoarse noises that made Thor shake his head. He was still trembling despite Thor's efforts to soothe him.

Loki whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut tighter when Thor leaned back up and over him.

Thor rubbed his palms comfortingly along Loki's thighs for several breaths before spreading them open wider. Loki shouted and jerked under him, then exhaled harshly through his teeth as Thor began sliding out.

Loki shuddered with a raw gasp as Thor dragged the head of his cock free, come spilling out in its wake and dribbling down along the curve of his ass. His thighs still quivered as he twisted harder against Thor's palms, trying to arch away. He pressed his head hard against the mattress.

Thor released him and crawled up, boxing Loki in before he could scrabble away, catching his face in his hands. Loki bared his teeth and clawed his arms with his nails, but even when he stared at Thor his eyes were still unfocused.

Thor draped his body over Loki's own, holding down as much of the sorcerer as he could against the bed. He rumbled as loudly as he dared, tilting his head away as he felt his chest heat, and hoped the comforting sound would pull Loki back sooner rather than later.

He'd made the mistake the first time of letting go when Loki fought afterward. The sorcerer had locked himself into his room for over a day afterward, until hunger finally drove him out; and for weeks past that he'd watched Thor with an edgy, restive caution, a sly smirk drifting across his mouth as he flirted and goaded and prodded--but his eyes were always too wide whenever Thor moved closer.

Since then, he'd held the sorcerer down until he finally calmed. Thor didn't let go until Loki's fighting was less instinct and more intentional.

He never could guess how long it would take. Usually Loki recovered fairly soon, but sometimes it took so long the only thing that kept Thor from drifting off was how tense Loki felt against him. Thor nuzzled his temple against Loki's cheek but didn't risk kissing him when his lungs were so heated, and hoped this time would be sooner.

It wasn't. But it wasn't one of the times long enough to be worrying, either. At long last Loki began to take deeper breaths, his heartbeat gradually steadying where Thor felt it thump against his chest. He stopped shaking.

Eventually, Loki swatted a hand lethargically at his side. "Stop that," he mumbled. "Off. You're too hot."

Thor grinned a little to himself at that, but pushed up onto his hands and knees to look the sorcerer over.

Loki drew another deep breath as Thor's weight lifted off him, and he shivered again when the draft hit his skin. But when he rubbed a forearm against his face, his eyes were clearer. Satisfied, Thor mouthed a final kiss to Loki's chest before shifting off the bed.

Loki grunted in annoyance as Thor hefted him over and helped him up off the mattress to his feet, but he didn't fight. When Thor draped the sorcerer's arm over his shoulders and wrapped his own around Loki's waist, and started to move them to his bathroom, Loki exhaled wearily but went.

"Nn," he muttered, staggering a little even though Thor was keeping their pace slow. Loki twisted his mouth in a sluggish smirk. "I believe I said 'gentle.'"

Thor frowned slightly, tilting his head. "I was."

Loki shivered once more, making a low noise deep in his throat.

He started laughing softly a few breaths later.

Thor frowned deeper at the apprehensive sound and pulled him closer, pressing another kiss and nuzzle to Loki's temple. Usually he was fine after he'd calmed. Had he lied, claimed he was ready too soon like Thor had first thought? But the contract should've stopped Thor if so.

Loki licked his lips and shook his head, and then huffed out a breath and took another unsteady step toward the bathroom. Thor kept pace.

~

Loki was fully back to himself after a long, warm shower. He fussed and made exasperated noises while Thor combed his wet hair with his fingers.

"I can groom myself," Loki said dryly, rubbing antiseptic gel gingerly along the bite in his chest.

"Mm," Thor replied absently. He started braiding Loki's hair while the sorcerer taped gauze over the bite, sweeping it back to keep it out of Loki's face so Thor could see him properly for a little while. He might as well use his fingers since he had them; he couldn't do this with his talons. "Where's 'up,' if not north?"

"Space," Loki answered.

Thor paused and gave him a long look in the mirror.

Loki didn't look either joking or feverish. He wiped his fingers on the towel crumpled over the counter and raised an eyebrow back at Thor. "Personal flights are still ludicrously expensive, of course."

Thor grunted in annoyance. Loki might out-value the rest of his hoard, but he'd still been countably richer before he'd met the sorcerer. "The gem in that staff should fetch a good price."

" ** _No_** ," Loki said gutturally, the greed thick in his voice and the threat clear in his glare.

Thor chuckled and kissed the nape of his neck, letting the braid fall half-finished as he rubbed the pad of his thumb along Loki's spine. "Give me the cost, and I'll see what I'm willing to spare."

Loki continued to scowl at him suspiciously, but after a few breaths he pursed his mouth and nodded once curtly.

Thor brushed his knuckles along Loki's spine and wondered once more about his genes.

All the dragons Thor knew had been bred to be tamer. There were vague rumors about the first, original strain: the experiments that went wrong, leading to the development of all the anti-wyvern weaponry and to the decision that the advantages of the domestic syndrome--the reduced aggression and brain size, the increased sociality--had to be engineered into all the dragons that came afterward, even when their creators realized they were starting to bond into packs.

The original strain was supposedly all destroyed, and Thor couldn't imagine they'd been able or interested in breeding with humans. The very first dragons had been creatures of destruction and rapacity, mistrustful of even each other. And the shape-shifting abilities in the modified strains hadn't become passable until the second generation. It drained Thor to force away his tail and wings and talons, but he could manage for longish periods. His elders couldn't for more than a day without starting to go mad.

And yet sometimes that seemed like the only explanation for why there was no tameness in Loki. Everything was rawer for him: the avarice, the ruthlessness, the distrust and the possessiveness and the hunger. It was like he was locked in a human form with the first dragons' blood roiling in his veins.

Sometimes Thor wondered how he'd endured this long.

"Come eat," he said.

Loki glanced at him again in the mirror, his eyes darting along Thor's face warily. Thor smiled and wrapped an arm around his waist, and leaned toward the door.

Loki huffed yet again, but went.

~

They ate next to each other the granite island. Loki pushed aside a seat and leaned against the stone because he had to, and Thor did the same to keep him company, his body tilted toward Loki's own.

Lethargy was settling into him again despite the charcuterie. Thor leaned contentedly against the island, letting the lardo melt in his mouth as he watched Loki pick absently at slices of bresaola. The sorcerer's weariness was starting to overcome his hunger; Loki was swaying slightly in place, closing his eyelids for long moments before finally forcibly blinking them open again. His eyes stayed unfocused for a few breaths afterward. He moved slowly.

When Loki finished chewing one slice of beef but just rested his fingers on the board and stared blankly at it instead of taking another, Thor tugged it away. There wasn't much remaining at this point, but he put it in the fridge anyway for when Loki woke again.

He shut the door and curled an arm around Loki's waist. When the sorcerer rubbed at his face, Thor started to lead the two of them back out of the kitchen. "Come on."

Loki followed without arguing. Thor kept his pace slow; the sorcerer was stumbling more now.

He startled when Thor kept going past Loki's atelier and on toward his own bedroom. Loki stopped walking abruptly and began twisting against Thor's arm, trying to work loose. " _No_. Let go."

"No," Thor agreed, pulling him closer. "But you can sleep with me."

He didn't like when Loki slept in his own room, even if he'd agreed to it in the contract. The apartment had an alarm, but Thor didn't always remember to set it unless he was leaving. And besides, Loki knew the code. Their contract was only set for as long as Loki wanted his services.

But now that the sorcerer was his, Thor would never relinquish him.

Loki hissed out an angry breath through his teeth. But after a few heartbeats, he fell still. When Thor started walking toward his bedroom once more, Loki followed.

Thor let his torpor sluice through him as soon as he collapsed on the bed. He curled in around Loki once the sorcerer had stretched out near the edge, wrapping an arm over Loki's chest and settling his head on his back. Loki grunted and shifted as it pressed him harder to the mattress; but it wasn't long before he sank into exhausted sleep.

In a few hours, he would wake again and slither out of Thor's hold, and likely return to that damned staff. In several more, Thor would wake himself, and see if the vampire had written back and look up space flights and either make arrangements to sell some of the more flawed gems or make plans to take someone else's, to finance whatever quest the sorcerer was on now.

But that was later. Thor tugged the coverlet up around them, burrowing in amid the treasures surrounding him, and drifted off into sated, contented sleep.  
  
  
  


You thought you knew the deepest depths of avarice, and then too late you learned you only understood it in human terms.


End file.
